Deborah RigsbyOctober 4, 2014

Council of Urban Boards of Education

Legislative Update

Key Education Committees?House and Senate Budget Committees (overall

funding)House and Senate Appropriations Committees

(programmatic funding allocations)House Education and Workforce Committee

(education programs)Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions

(HELP) Committee (education programs)House and Senate Agriculture Committees (school

nutrition)House Energy & Commerce Committee (E-Rate)Senate Commerce Committee (E-Rate)

Know the committee assignments for your congressional delegationExample: Virginia

Senator Tim Kaine – Budget CommitteeSenator Mark Warner – Budget and Finance

Committees (School bond programs and education-related tax credits)

Rep. Rob Wittman -- Committee on Natural Resources (Secure Rural Schools program for payments-in-lieu-of-taxes)

Rep. Scott Rigell – Budget CommitteeRep. Robert "Bobby" Scott -- Education

and the Workforce (ESEA)Rep. Randy ForbesRep. Robert Hurt

Virginia Congressional Delegation (cont’)

Rep. Bob Goodlatte – Agriculture Committee (School Nutrition)

Rep. Jim Moran– Appropriations Committee (Funding)

Rep. Morgan Griffith – Energy & Commerce Committee (E-Rate)

Rep. Frank Wolf – Appropriations Committee (Funding)

Rep. Gerald E. Connolly

Building Relationships with your Members of Congress

Goal: To become a resource to your members of Congress

First Step: Learn about your members of Congress- Who is your Representative?- Who are your Senators?- Do they serve on key education committees?- Is their background in education?- Who are their friends in education?- How did they vote on education legislation in the past?

Building Relationships with your Members of Congress

Second Step: Learn about the timing in CongressWhen are members of Congress at home or in

Washington, D.C.?

At home: Take them for a tour of your school.Meet them in district offices to discuss issues.

In Washington, D.C. :Advocacy Institute, February 1-3, 2015Schedule meetings on Capitol Hill

Education FundingA final appropriations bill for FY2015 may not

be considered until mid-December or after.

Congress recently passed a Continuing Resolution (CR), a stop-gap funding measure (H.J. Res. 124) that would maintain government operations until a final bill is passed.

The CR includes an across-the-board budget cut of .055 percent so that funding will be consistent with the current FY2014 levels.

Education FundingKey concerns include sustaining investments in

Title I grants for disadvantaged students and in the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

Title I grants support student achievement efforts at roughly 90 percent of the 14,000 school districts across the nation ($14.4 billion).

IDEA state grants help fund educational services for approximately 6.5 million students with disabilities ($11.4 billion). Federal share of funding is less than 16 percent in FY2014.

Sequestration Defined as the “automatic, across-the-board cancellation

of budgetary resources.”

Slated to resume across-the-board cuts to education and other domestic programs in Fiscal Years 2016 - 2021, unless Congress intervenes.

Imposed more than a $2.5 billion reduction to education programs in FY2013. Most of the cuts were restored in FY2014 funding.

GOAL: Achieve a permanent legislative solution to end the federal sequester.

E-RateFoundation of the Administration’s ConnectED

proposal to:

Provide professional development for educators

Make Content and devices available at same cost as traditional textbooks

Connect 99 percent of America’s students to the internet through high-speed broadband and high-speed wireless within 5 years

E-Rate (cont.)Modernized program will provide $2.25B to high

need schools and libraries to reduce costs and increase access

NSBA submitted comments on Proposed Rulemaking to support broadband, streamlined administrative requirements and improved affordability.

NSBA is working on a new campaign to address the future funding needs of E-rate with a broad based group of educational and private sector organizations and companies.

ESEA Reauthorization

Most Comprehensive Federal Law Supporting Public Education

Supplements State and Local K-12 Programs

Enacted in 1965 and last reauthorized in January 2002

Was scheduled for reauthorization in 2008

Extended via congressional appropriations process

NSBA Position on Current Law

Inaccurate and unfair assessment of students, schools and school districts, further eroding the public’s confidence in the nation’s public schools

Unintended Consequences Imposed Implementation problems

Schools and School Districts were mislabeled/Subject to ineffective Sanctions

Overemphasis on Standardized/Invalid/Unreliable assessments

ESEA ReauthorizationHouse and Senate bills await further action. H.R. 5

was passed by the House in July 2013. S. 1094 has not received Senate floor consideration.

Provisions reflecting NSBA’s local governance position were included in H.R. 5.

NSBA’s recommendations to improve ESEA include:Elimination of “adequate yearly progress” (AYP)

requirements and sanctions. Continued reporting of data disaggregated by

demographic group. Use of multiple sources of evidence to evaluate schools,

such as academic outcomes, improvement efforts, availability of resources, and periodic on-site reviews by qualified teams.

IDEANext reauthorization expected 2015Established IDEA Working Group to identify

priority issuesConducted survey to assess alignment

between attorneys and school board members in July 2013

Senate HELP Committee conducted investigation of inappropriate use of Restraint & Seclusion

Strategic actions needed on part of local school districts

Local Educational Agency, Local Educational Agency, Governance, Flexibility, and Governance, Flexibility, and

Efficiency ActEfficiency Act

S. 2451

Introduced by Sen. James Inhoffe (R-Oklahoma)

A key element of NSBA’s efforts to push-back against federal intrusion in local school operations.

A companion bill, H.R. 1386, was introduced earlier this session in the House of Representatives.

The Problem

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1. The Department of Education has established significant and detailed program initiatives that, in the absence of federal legislation or on the basis of very general language, hasCompromised local school board governanceLimited the flexibility that school districts need to

meet local, state, and federal goalsImposed unnecessary costs, administrative burdens

and negative consequences in the classroom

2. Rules etc. not adequately responsive

Examples of the Problem

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State Race to the Top grantsGrant prioritiesLocal Race to the Top grantsNCLB waiver conditionsLack of rationale/verificationComments by BLOGGuidance documents

NSBA Bill: Three Key Provisions

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In the absence of specific federal legislation, NSBA’s bill:

1. Prohibits ED from taking unilateral action that conflicts with key local governance functions

2. Makes ED more responsive to local governance/operational needs in developing its regs/grant requirements

3. Requires ED to report annually to Congress regarding local governance concerns with its requirements

School NutritionNSBA worked closely with Rep. Kristi Noem

(R-SD) in negotiating revised language to:Make permanent USDA temporary easing of meat

and grain requirements, allowing schools more flexibility in serving meats and grains calorie maximums (H.R. 3663)

Give school districts flexibility in some of the mandates by permitting them to opt out of current regulations that incur a net cost for competitive foods, school breakfast, and paid meal prices

NSBA Advocacy Institute

February 1-3, 2015Marriott MarquisWashington, D.C.

Return on Investment (ROI)

Why is your participation critical?Setting the Congressional agendaIf you don’t represent your school districts who will?

Decisions made will impact your district for the next several years

Network with school board members from across the country

Legislative, Legal & Public Advocacy

www.nsba.org

Working with and through our State Associations, to advocate for equity and excellence in public education through school board leadership.

ContactsKathleen Branch

Director, National Advocacy Serviceskbranch@nsba.org

703.838.6735

Deborah RigsbyDirector, Federal Legislation

drigsby@nsba.org703.838.6208